Monster icarplay review...

Question

Level 2

354 points

Monster icarplay review...

I went out last night to Best Buy and bought the Monster icarplay for use with my ipod nano 4g.

There were a few different options as far as fm transmitters, but I felt that the charging capabilities of the Monster was the obvious choice.

After shelling out $80 plus tax... I got into the car and plugged it in. Right off the bat there was no sound. I reset the ipod and tried again.

The Monster icarplay does indeed work with the nano but...

The sound quality is very poor. There is a hiss no matter what station I choose to broadcast over. The hiss is quite loud in between songs. The volume of the music from the ipod is very low. I had to turn the stereo up really loud just to hear the music. On CD or Tuner, the volume is way loud. Now it is not the stereo, I have a Pioneer premier series that sounds awesome, but for the ipod to sound like a bad radio station it is not worth the money.

Another problem with this set up is just the inconvenience. To get into the car, plug in the icarplay into the cig lighter. Then attach the ipod, find a clear station, press play, adjust the volume on the stereo so I can hear it. By the time i get a song to play, I am late for work.

Then to have to deal with the clutter of the wires and where to put the ipod. Then when i get to work I have to unplug everything and take the ipod.

I will be returning the icarplay to Best Buy today and getting $80 worth of new music and blank cd's to burn

Posted on Oct 6, 2005 6:41 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 6, 2005 4:25 PM in response to Jay Deutsch

I have found if you take off your antanna, or push it in (depending on what kind of car you have) the hissing goes away.

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Answer 2

amflmnt

Level 2

155 points

Oct 6, 2005 4:41 PM in response to Jay Deutsch

I got mine primarily for it's smarter charging capability too. Stations here are cheek-to-jowl, so I was surprised the darn thing worked. Did you try to manually tune a clearer channel into the iCarplay? I haven't been made late by connecting yet.

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Answer 3

-KT-

Level 2

220 points

Oct 6, 2005 4:43 PM in response to Jay Deutsch

I couldn't disagree more with you. My icarplay transmitter works perfectly and the sound is good, as good as you would expect an FM transmitter sound to be. You are making it sound much more complicated then it is. I have the station I listen to my ipod on saved on my stereo and in the Transmitters memory and all I have to do is turn my radio to that preset and press play on my ipod. Takes all of a minute even less when I use my steering wheel controls.

There is no hiss or interference whatsoever when i'm using mine and the sound level is fine.Sounds like it is you car, I have seen a correlation between older cars and having trouble with FM transmitters. A lot of people in big cities also have problems using FM transmitters because of the lack of free stations.

I don't really see what you are expecting with the wire, you saw that it has a wire when you bought. I put my ipod in my center cup holders, out of the way and all is good I can even switch songs easily without having to look at it. Unplugging it is not a problem either, you just unplug the ipod and leave the transmitter plugged into the lighter.

You are making this sound so much harder and more complicated then it is.

It's a great device, works much better then my wireless Belkin one and matches the color scheme of my car not that that matters lol. I don't think it is worth 80+ dollars so I bought one on ebay for 40 bucks brand new.

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Answer 4

Oct 6, 2005 10:29 PM in response to Jay Deutsch

A friend recommended the Monster iCarPlay to me.. He said it worked perfectly with his 20GB. After researching it on the Apple website (it said it was compatible with ALL iPod types, INCLUDING Nanos) I ran out and bought it to play my Nano in my car. I tried everything.. Antenna up, antenna down.. Every radio station at least four times, every different volume level..and nothing. I immediately followed that by plugging in a 20GB iPod and it worked perfectly.. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with my Nano... I promptly returned it the iCarPlay to Best Buy and got an iRiver.. It works perfectly, not to mention it's about 30 bucks cheaper.

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